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I am a pack rat. Can a pack rat have a Feng Shui kitchen?

You’re probably sitting there thinking I’m a bag lady or that I have piles of newspapers stacked up around my house dating back to 1972.

But the truth is that I am a pack rat like everyone else is a pack rat, meaning that I am a convenience junkie.

You know the type—you buy tons of devices, appliances and household accessories, use them once, toss them in a drawer or closet and never bother to use them again.

And where does most of that junk seem to accumulate? The kitchen of course. You’ll find it everywhere—in kitchen cabinets, in the kitchen storage and even on the kitchen countertops.

If you want to have a Feng Shui kitchen, you have to do a lot of work to get there and stay there.

The first thing you have to do when you’re attempting to create a Feng Shui kitchen is think about the space you’re using , what you’re using it for and what you want to use it for in the future.

Then, take out everything that doesn’t fit the equation, find a better place for it, or get rid of it!

The number one storage solution is to just get rid of the items that block the natural flow of the kitchen and better use your space—that’s what a Feng Shui kitchen is all about.

I’ve been uniquely blessed with a large, built-in, walk-in pantry in the back end of my kitchen. I have also been uniquely blesses with plenty of kitchen storage via cabinets and drawers. But these unique blessings have also been a bit of a harbinger for the evil of pack-rat clutter.

In my cupboards you’ll find appliances turned beautiful kitchen accessories and décor—items such as a quesadilla maker, a sandwich maker and a flatbread maker, which are all honestly the same device with a different shape and a different name. You’ll also find an array of pots without lids, pans that have been scratched, kitchen accessories and other contraptions and appliances that have long since lost parts or partners.

On my kitchen countertops you’ll find two (or is it three) different types of blenders—yes, I do have to have all of them because each one of them does something special…yeah right. We all know that you need one really good blender and that it will do everything you need.

I have also been harboring an egg slicer that I only recently started using just to prove to my husband that it wasn’t completely useless.

I also have several strange items that I have yet to identify and I’m not sure how I came to own them (I’m sure that I once knew what they were and that I bought them for a very good reason) or what they’re useful for, but I’m not about to give them up just so I can remember what they’re used for right after throwing them away.

But having a Feng Shui kitchen is not only about ceasing your pack rat ways. It’s also about learning what items go in the kitchen and what items go somewhere else in the house and vice versa.

I can’t bring myself to only place the plants on the windowsill and the top of the refrigerator. I have to have them on the countertops as well, which creates a huge Feng Shui kitchen obstacle when I’m trying to cook or trying to set out crock pots or plates for dinner.

Anytime you have to make major adjustments in your kitchen just to cook a simple meal, you are disrupting the Feng Shui. The air and atmosphere of your kitchen should be generally undisrupted from the time you enter to the time you leave with your scrumptious meals.

Another thing about having a Feng Shui kitchen is that you have to keep it clean. You will never feel comfortable in your kitchen if your countertops are covered in crumbs and dried spaghetti sauce. You’ll never feel right if your sinks are always full of dirty dishes. It follows the same simple rules as every other part of Feng Shui—what doesn’t belong should not be.

In addition, you have to make sure that your kitchen is in proper working order. If your appliances are broken, either have them repaired or replace them. There is no sense in keeping broken objects in your Feng Shui kitchen or your Feng Shui lifestyle, for that matter.

Make sure the kitchen cabinets have working doors and hinges and that your kitchen storage is clean and has no missing shelves or brackets. Keep your dishwasher, refrigerator, trash compactor, stove, sinks, faucets and outlets working properly. This will not only improve your kitchen Feng Shui but will also improve your wallet Feng Shui—it’s easier to repair a minor electrical problem or dishwasher malfunction than it is to wait for an electrical fire or for your dishwasher to breakdown.

In the end, a Feng Shui lifestyle comes down to the simple ability to quit being a pack rat.

I’m learning to hold back when I walk into a culinary store or any store with odds and ends for convenience. And when I do hold back, I feel more comfortable in my house and especially in my kitchen.

Although, it certainly feels a little weird at first—not having twenty different devices to make the same sandwich feels a little underdone. But at least I’m not overdoing it anymore. And that keeps my kitchen and myself happy 100% of the time.

 

Tags: feng shui kitchen design | feng shui kitchen design | kitchen accessories | Fen Shui kitchen | Fen Shui kitchen | kitchen cabinets | kitchen storage | countertops | countertops

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Bedroom decorating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.